With Run London coming up, everyone in the agency is becoming more running conscious. Sophie D, one of our account managers, writes:

So despite an all-agency drinking binge on Wednesday afternoon, lunch time running proceeded (although delayed by 24hrs).

It all started when I decided to run home from work about a month ago, just to see if I could. I’d done a couple of light jogs before, but nothing this far (about 12K). The great thing was, not only did I do it, but my eyes were suddenly opened to this fantastic world of running. And I loved it.

People around the agency keep bringing up the question, what keeps people going when they’re running? How does one go the distance they’re aiming for? (Something to do with Nike I think). What I’d say, with my limited brief experience, is that it’s not about concentrating on the distance or the finishing line. It’s about embracing the journey. What I love about running is the sense of discovery. Whether it’s self-discovery (how far you can push yourself/whether your left ankle’s weaker than your right/how your thoughts/conversations deteriorate after an hour), or just discovering the little things going on around you – the pavement cracks, people’s living rooms, grumpy pedestrians, your own feet. The distance and where you’re getting to is just a happy outcome of that journey.

So I bought a pair of special purple trainers and an i-pod arm band, and I got running.

Then, during a drunken conversation with Tony, our Creative Director, I agreed that getting other people to join in could be a very positive thing. It’s just too easy to sit in front of a computer all day and go stale in your thoughts. If we were to make it a weekly occurrence, getting people out of the office, clearing their heads for an hour and exploring a bit of the area, no doubt we’d all feel much more positive for the afternoon/week ahead.

Lots of people responded to the initial invitation, however few appeared keen when the day arrived. In fact, at one point it was just going to be me and Tony. But in the end we were three. Jason (one of our freelance Creatives), Tony D and me. 

Two would have been less of an event. But I would argue that three was a perfect number to begin with. It meant that one of us could run ahead (Tony), whilst we followed in blissful ignorance of where we were. It also meant that 2 of us could talk (Tony and Jason), whilst one of us listened to our i-pod.

In retrospect, we went quite far. Almost 10K in fact. We didn’t anticipate running that distance (or I didn’t), but just kind of got into it. Plus we were following Tony and had no idea where we were. 

I suppose the best way to document our run is to go through our journey, picking out those little discoveries and conversations that were shared. I’ll do it by street name:

Haggerston Park to Old Ford Rd: Agreed to ditch the map and follow Tony.

Mile End Rd: Consideration of whether we could run far enough to give ourselves a heart murmur. Concluded it was worth taking the risk. Jason taught me that looking at your feet whilst running actually helps you go further.

And that was that.

Going to tick off the street names each week, until we’ve conquered East London. Then we’ll move South. Next run: this Wednesday, 1pm.Won’t be going quite so far next time in case you’re put off – definitely come along! Will take some pics.

As a wise man once said, “you never feel worse after a run.”